According to the state of the art, various processes are known for printing on textile fabrics. For printing on transparent fabrics, for nylon hosiery, in particular, patterns have thus far been applied by means of the known screen printing process. This has the disadvantage, however, that the fabric loses its transparency in the area of the imprint, by which the overall optical impression of fabrics printed on in this manner is negatively influenced.
Moreover, the screen printing processes generally use inks which are liquefied with organic solvents. During the drying of these inks, the volatile solvents are released, which leads to a deterioration of the ambient air at the work place, so that ambient air monitoring systems and appropriate ventilation devices must be provided, in order to maintain the legally permissible MAK [maximum work place concentrations] values. Furthermore, the solvent-containing exhaust air contributes to harming the environment.
In addition, according to the state of the art, and especially for printing on T-shirts, a hot-pressing process is used, in which the textile to be printed on is fed onto a base, whereupon a screen printing transfer similar to a transfer picture is placed on the area of the textile to be printed on, and this is transferred onto the fabric under the pressure action of a counterplate corresponding to the base, at a raised temperature. No imprint having a transparent effect can be produced according to this technique, either, particularly since the layer of ink applied by the screen printing transfer is relatively thick, so that the imprint transferred onto the fabric is characterized by a closed-pore, non-transparent appearance. Particularly when under tensile stress, such as may occur during washing of textiles, for example, cracks may appear in the imprinted layer of ink, which must also be regarded as negative from an aesthetic point of view.